General pediatrics

Abdominal migraine is one of the episodic syndromes that may be associated with migraine, which often has its initial presentation in childhood. Recognition of these 2 conditions in the pediatric population is paramount to establish an appropriate diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. The aim of this article is to review the most recent International Classification of Headache Disorders-3 beta for abdominal migraine, and discuss the differential diagnosis and current suggested management.

Migraine is a chronic disorder with debilitating exacerbations throughout the lifetime of migraineurs. Children and adolescents are significantly affected. The prevalence of migraine in this age group is higher than predicted in the last decade. Fortunately, this chronic disease is getting more attention and recognition, and better treatments are now being offered to these patients. Different medications are available, mostly for the outpatient management of an attack and include the use of over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications as well as prescribed medications like the triptans group...

This article reviews the evidence for an association between infant colic and migraine. Infant colic, or excessive crying in an otherwise healthy and well-fed infant, affects approximately 5%-19% of infants. Multiple case-control studies, a cross-sectional study, and a prospective cohort study have all found an association between infant colic and migraine. Although infant colic is often assumed to have a gastrointestinal cause, several treatment trials aimed at gastrointestinal etiologies have been negative...

In movies and television series are few references to seizures or reflex epilepsy even though in real life are an important subgroup of total epileptic syndromes. It has performed a search on the topic, identified 25 films in which they appear reflex seizures. Most seizures observed are tonic-clonic and visual stimuli are the most numerous, corresponding all with flashing lights. The emotions are the main stimuli in higher level processes. In most cases it is not possible to know if a character suffers a reflex epilepsy or suffer reflex seizures in the context of another epileptic syndrome...

Bacterial meningitis is a medical emergency requiring immediate diagnosis and immediate treatment. Streptococcus pneumoniae and Neisseria meningitidis are the most common and most aggressive pathogens of meningitis. Emerging antibiotic resistance is an upcoming challenge. Clinical and experimental studies have established a more detailed understanding of the mechanisms resulting in brain damage, sequelae and neuropsychological deficits. We summarize the current pathophysiological concept of acute bacterial meningitis and present current treatment strategies...

TOURETTE SYNDROME (TS) IS A CHRONIC NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDER CHARACTERIZED BY TICS: repetitive, involuntary movements and vocalizations. These symptoms can have a significant impact on patients' daily functioning across many domains. Tics tend to be most severe in child and adolescent sufferers, so their presence has the potential to impact a period of life that is both critical for learning and is often associated with the experience of greater social tension and self-consciousness than adulthood. Furthermore, control over tics that lead to physical impairment or self-injurious behaviour is of vital importance in maintaining health and quality of life...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by severe attacks of optic neuritis and myelitis, and which, unlike multiple sclerosis (MS), commonly spares the brain in the early stages. NMO used to be considered as a special form of MS. During the past 10 years, however, the two diseases have been shown to be clearly different. NMO is a B-cell-mediated disease associated with anti-aquaporin-4 antibodies in many cases and its pathophysiology seems to be near the acute lesion of necrotizing vasculitis...

Demyelinating optic neuritis (ON) is the most common cause of optic neuropathy typically presenting with a subacute painful visual loss. In 20% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), ON is the presenting symptom and half of the patients with isolated ON develop MS within 15 years. The diagnosis of ON plays an important role in neurological practice. A correct and early diagnosis is necessary to ensure optimal further investigations and treatment. Other causes of optic neuropathies such as connective tissue disorders, infectious diseases, tumours or ischaemic neuropathies are less frequent but clinical and therapeutic management can differ dramatically...

Dystonia is a hyperkinetic movement disorder, characterized by involuntary and sustained contractions of opposing muscles causing twisting movements and abnormal postures. It is often a disabling disorder that has a significant impact on physical and psychosocial wellbeing. The medical therapeutic armamentarium used in practice is quite extensive, but for many of these interventions formal proof of efficacy is lacking. Exceptions are the use of botulinum toxin in patients with cervical dystonia, some forms of cranial dystonia (in particular, blepharospasm) and writer's cramp; deep brain stimulation of the pallidum in generalized and segmental dystonia; and high-dose trihexyphenidyl in young patients with segmental and generalized dystonia...

Apart from the rather rare ictal psychotic events, such as non-convulsive status epilepticus, modern epileptic psychoses have been categorized into three main types; chronic and acute interictal psychoses (IIPs) and postictal psychosis (PIP). Together, they comprise 95% of psychoses in patients with epilepsy (PWE). Four major questions, that is, "Is psychosis in PWE a direct consequence of epilepsy or schizophrenia induced by epilepsy?", "Is psychosis in PWE homogeneous or heterogeneous?", "Does psychosis in PWE have symptomatological differences from schizophrenia and related disorders?", "Is psychosis in PWE uniquely associated with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE)?" are tried to be answered in this review with relevant case presentations...

The relevance of a synchronized temporal order for adaptation and homeostasis is discussed in this review. We present evidence suggesting that an altered temporal order between the biological clock and external temporal signals leads to disease. Evidence mainly based on a rodent model of "night work" using forced activity during the sleep phase suggests that altered activity and feeding schedules, out of phase from the light/dark cycle, may be the main cause for the loss of circadian synchrony and disease. It is proposed that by avoiding food intake during sleep hours the circadian misalignment and adverse consequences can be prevented...

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagonic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, and disturbed nocturnal sleep patterns. This disease is secondary to the specific loss of hypothalamic hypocretin (orexin)-producing neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. An autoimmune basis for the disease has long been suspected based on its strong association with the genetic marker DQB1∗06:02, and current studies greatly support this hypothesis. Narcolepsy with hypocretin deficiency is associated with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and T cell receptor (TCR) polymorphisms, suggesting that an autoimmune process targets a peptide unique to hypocretin-producing neurons via specific HLA-peptide-TCR interactions...

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often referred for audiological diagnostic evaluation. This article provides some strategies for preparing children for a successful diagnostic evaluation. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing with a dual diagnosis of ASD may have difficulty learning to demonstrate detection or imitation of the Ling 6 sounds. The Ling 6 sounds are used to determine what a child with a dual diagnosis can hear and discriminate with amplification (hearing aids or cochlear implants)...

Neurologists are often enlisted to help diagnose, evaluate, and manage a spectrum of abnormal spells during the night ranging from parasomnias to motor disturbance that span the sleep-wake cycle. Parasomnias are undesirable emotional or physical events that accompany sleep. These events typically occur during entry into sleep from wakefulness, or during arousals from sleep, and are often augmented by the sleep state. Some parasomnias, such as the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder may be extremely undesirable, while others such as somniloquy are often of little concern...

Over a century of work has confirmed crucial links between sleep and epilepsy. Seizures and some antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) adversely affect the continuity of sleep. However, sleep is fragmented in the absence of seizures or medication, suggesting that sleep instability may be an inherent component of certain forms of epilepsy. In turn, sleep instability can promote seizures, thus forming a vicious cycle. Sleep deprivation provokes seizures and epileptiform discharges in some people with epilepsy. Synchronized nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep facilitates seizures, whereas desynchronized rapid eye movement (REM) sleep discourages seizure occurrence...

There is a strong interaction between sleep and headache. Sleep and headache disorders overlap epidemiologically, and share elements of anatomy and physiology. Perhaps as a result, their treatment is often mutually interdependent. Despite this, headache and sleep disorders tend to be treated separately, by different subspecialties of neurology. The headache disorders and their relationship to sleep, the commonalities of headache and sleep pathophysiology, and headache disorders that are particularly susceptible to sleep modulation (and vice versa) are reviewed...

Circadian rhythm sleep disorders occur when individuals attempt to sleep at the wrong circadian time. The misalignment between the internal circadian timing system and the external environment is typically due to either an alteration in the functioning of the circadian timing system (e.g., delayed or advanced sleep phase disorder) or to changes in the external environment (e.g., jet lag). However, the clinical presentation of most of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders is influenced by a combination of physiologic, behavioral, and environmental factors...

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common cause of recurrent vertigo and has a lifetime prevalence of 2.4% in the general population. Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo is caused when calcium carbonate material originating from the macula of the utricle falls into one of the semicircular canals. Due to their density relative to the endolymph, they move in response to gravity and trigger excitation of the ampullary nerve of the affected canal. This, in turn, produces a burst of vertigo associated with nystagmus unique to that canal...

The key signs and symptoms of vestibular neuritis are rotatory vertigo with an acute onset lasting several days, horizontal spontaneous nystagmus (with a rotational component) toward the unaffected ear, a pathologic head-impulse test toward the affected ear, a deviation of the subjective visual vertical toward the affected ear, postural imbalance with falls toward the affected ear, and nausea. The head-impulse test and caloric irrigation show an ipsilateral deficit of the vestibuloocular reflex. Vestibular neuritis is the third most common cause of peripheral vestibular vertigo...